phenomenon
noun
Simple meaning
Any state or process known through the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fuhnahmuhnahnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
fəˈnɑmənɑn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any state or process known through the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning
A thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses; or a fact or occurrence thereof.
A fact or event considered very unusual, curious, or astonishing by those who witness it.
A remarkable development
A wonderful or very remarkable person or thing.
Appearance; a perceptible aspect of something that is mutable.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any state or process known through the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning
Used this way, phenomenon is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use phenomenon
- “An electromagnetic phenomenon.”noun
- “A volcanic eruption is an impressive phenomenon.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any natural phenomenon involving chemistry (as changes to atoms or molecules).
A physical phenomenon involving electricity.
A change in the electrical properties of the skin in response to stress or anxiety.
A natural phenomenon involving the structure or composition of the earth.
A physical phenomenon associated with the equilibrium or motion of objects.
All phenomena that are not artificial.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.